Tutu`s Visit Will Include Service, Honorary Degree

January 11, 1986

Mayor Harold Washington announced Friday some details of the seven-hour visit Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and his wife, Leah, will make to Chicago Jan. 24 as part of national tour of several major cities. ``It is an honor for our city to welcome the Right Rev. Desmond Tutu, the Anglican bishop of Johannesburg and recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his role as a unifying leader in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid,`` the mayor said at a City Hall press conference.

He also said Pope John Paul II is considering an invitation to make a return visit to Chicago, but he did not elaborate.

Bishop Tutu`s schedule here has been planned by the mayor and a special committee of more than 250 religious, business and civic leaders. The committee`s chairwoman is Veronica O`Neill, who once lived in South Africa, and Edward Gardner, president of Softsheen Products.

Bishop Tutu`s itinerary in Chicago will start with a sunrise service at 7 a.m. in St. James Cathedral followed by an interfaith breakfast sponsored by the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago for about 1,000 clergymen.

Later, Bishop Tutu will be awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary in the Rockefeller chapel at 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.

A public tribute for Bishop Tutu will be held shortly before noon in the Daley Plaza followed by a $100-a-plate fundraising luncheon in the Chicago Hilton & Towers, 720 S. Michigan Ave.

Bishop Tutu`s tour is intended to benefit the South African Council of Churches. Funds will be used for education, for scholarships and for providing housing and food for displaced families and families of political prisoners.

The tour is sponsored by the South African Council of Churches and the Adelphia Foundation.